Page 13 of Family Bonds- Jarrett & Andi

No reason to tell him that.

She had some more soup and stood up, but he stopped her. “What do you want?”

“I was going to make a cup of tea,” she said.

“I’ve got it. I saw the bags in the pantry.”

“Just put the cup under the Keurig and hit the button. The water comes out hot enough. I don’t care what flavor.”

He grabbed one at random, found her cupsandmade it while she ate as much soup as she could and didn’t have to listen to him crunching on the chips.

He brought it over. “Do you want milk or anything?”

“No,” she said. “How long are you staying?”

“I’m not sure yet,” he said. “At least until Sunday, maybe Monday. It’s going to depend on how you are feeling.”

She was going to damn well make sure she felt fine so he could leave, even if she did miss having someone around thatshe could talk to and not worry about being too guarded or slipping up.

“That’s fine,” she said.

He laughed quietly. “I wasn’t asking you,” he said.

“I know. Maybe it will be nice to visit and have someone to talk to.”

Jack was back to eating his sandwich. “You know you can call me whenever you want.”

“We aren’t supposed to have too much contact,” she said. “Other than email or texts.”

They both had an email account no one else knew about under false names and they would email back and forth without worries.

It was her idea and he had no problem with it. They did text but not as often.

The emails were there for her to vent about things or talk about her past. Jack didn’t like that at first. Not having it in writing. But he finally gave in.

She hated to think that some tears were what worked for him, but it did help her feel better to send those emails once a month when life was getting overwhelming for her.

“Things are good otherwise?” he asked.

“You mean other than today?” She was just sipping her tea now and not that hungry. “Yes. It’s a great place to live. Ireallylike it. I’m meeting people.”

“But not getting close to anyone. I know.”

“I’ll try to get in and get my teeth fixed next week. Jarrett told me that Amanda’s brother-in-law is a dentist. Maybe that will help me get in sooner. He’s on the island.”

“Jarrett?” Jack asked. “First names now? What else did he say to you while I wasn’t in the room?”

“Nothing important,” she said. “He was being nice. He knows what is going on. Are you going to tell me what was said?”

“He doesn’t know anything other than you’re my cousin and I hope you didn’t say anything else.”

She knew that look in Jack’s eyes. “OfcourseI didn’t. But he’s not stupid. I could see he knew why you werereallyhere.”

“You’re not going to tell him anything,” Jack said. “Do you hear me?”

“I know the rules,” she said. “He was just being nice. Nothing else.”

“I doubt it,” Jack said. “If you have any other contact with him or his brother, I want to know.”

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